Some random thoughts on Bloodlines

[fignewton]

Watched Bloodlines last night, as the recap goes up tonight for redial_the_gate. I'd forgotten how much I liked it.

Hammond is, as always, solid gold. Don't try to lie to him - like in COTG, he's perfectly willing to call his people's bluffs - but once he knows what's really at stake, and he has all the information he needs? He backs Teal'c all the way.

Interesting to see how stratified society is on Chulak, especially compared to what we see of the Hak'tyl in S8. Good thing Teal'c had eight years' worth of fighting side-by-side with Sam at that point, which allowed him to accept the concept of a female warrior.

Daniel shooting the symbiote tank will always and forever be one of my top five Daniel defining moments. Period.

On the lighter Daniel side: I noticed, for the first time, that when Daniel idly speculates about the need to feed their captured symbiote, it's because he's taken a bite out of a powerbar. And then the shooting starts, and he and Sam are dodging through the trees looking for shelter, and Daniel is still holding on to the silly thing until they finally take cover. Then he sort of gives the powerbar an incredulous look before tossing it onto the ground and drawing his weapon. I do love you, Daniel.

And again, when SG-1 says goodbye to Bra'tac after he singlehandedly gains access to the Gate: they stand framed by the active wormhole. Teal'c is at stiff attention; Sam and Jack snap off formal salutes. Daniel? Waves cheerfully. :)

When you think about it, the mission to Chulak had three objectives: obtain a symbiote for study, bring Teal'c's son and wife back to the safety of Earth, and make contact with those Jaffa who might be willing to join the fight against the Goa'uld. The first objective failed when they used their captured symbiote to save Teal'c's life; the second failed for reasons that are utterly beyond my comprehension, as I have no idea why Teal'c left Drey'auc and Ry'ac at the side of the path instead of bringing them back to Earth. But the third objective? That one was a spectacular success. They met Bra'tac, and impressed him enough (both with their willingness to fight for Teal'c and their unthinking audacity in robbing the temple) that he insinuated himself into Klorel's good graces in order to try and stop the invasion of Earth. The success of that mission - and again, the impressions he got of SG-1 and Hammond - were enough to put Bra'tac solidly on their side, causing a chain reaction that eventually led to the entire Jaffa rebellion and the eventual overthrow of the System Lords. So, yeah. I'd definitely call this one a success.

I hadn't planned on it, but I will definitely be writing some Bloodlines-inspired meta on Bra'tac and Daniel over the next day or so. redial_the_gate welcomes multiple meta posts on episodes, so I won't be stepping on dunv_i's toes. I'll wait until after her meta post, though, since she's officially signed up for it. I'll link back to it here when it gets posted... or, y'know, you could just go and add redial_the_gate to your watchlist. I think you'll find it well worth it. :)

Comments

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

This had a really bad plot.

Plotholes, yes. Bad plot... I don't think so.

To be honest, this is one of those eps that always went into the "meh" category - I would watch it for the good bits, but I didn't care for it much overall. But it really clicked for me when I watched it last night. Maybe this redial_the_gate thing has gone to my head. :) But seeing the eps, week after week, in sequential order - it's making me overly fond of them for some odd reason. And I see no reason to dislike that turn of events. ;)

Oh, word on everything about Bra'tac! Such a superb character, and one of the few I genuinely worried about these last two seasons - I wouldn't put it past the writers to kill him for the sake of the uproar. Thankfully, like Walter and Reynolds, he made it through alive. Even TPTB are defeated by Bra'tac's absolutely awesomeness, apparently.

I loved watching him bite Daniel.

Heh. I could never make up my mind if he's threatening to bite Daniel or to snap his wrist. I guess you could take it either way. The main point, I think, was to demonstrate contempt - which was why Daniel's pointed, "I thought we were warriors of great strength and cunning" a few minutes later is even funnier.

Go and watch this one, when you have a chance. I think you'll be surpirsed at how much you find you like it.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Agreed on Daniel's response to Bra'tac's contempt. :-)

And yes, I think it is time to dig out the DVDs and catch up here. Bloodlines has consistently been one I've watched or not as the mood took me, because I was watching for bits, not the whole thing. As for the 'bad plot vs. plot holes' argument - when you can't see the plot for the holes, y'gotta wonder if the problem is the basic concept rather than the execution. ;-)

S1 is such a mixed bag for me. And with First Commandment coming up, it's the beginning of the end for Carter's potential - A wasted and ruined character, sadly.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I think I do see a plot, though. You should go watch. Go on, doooo eeeet....

I agree that S1 is a bit of a mixed bag; most first seasons for most shows are, don't you think? S2 will always be my absolute favorite.

We're already past First Commandment, by the way. It was episode - six? Seven? Something like that. Next week is Fire and Water. Good time to join in, woo hoo!

As for Sam... well.

This LJ is most definitely a Sam-friendly zone. I strongly disagree that Sam is a "wasted and ruined" character, although I do think that the pushing of the Sam/Jack ship was an astonishingly bad move for an awful lot of reasons. But that wasn't a problem until S4; and even during the worst of those, Sam continued to shine in any scene that was not just her and Jack, or specifically aimed at her love life. (That drove me insane. Sam is about so much more that who her current boyfriend might be, and yet the writers insist on dwelling on it ad nauseum. But I blame that on the writers, not on Sam herself.) And after S8, of course, the problem is moot. I disliked most of S9-10, but a Sam without Jack around is a wonderful thing to behold. And (spoilers for S10!) I was utterly gleeful at the scene between Jack and Sam in The Shroud - private conversation. Utterly professional. Just the way it was supposed to be, yay!

But I adore Sam Carter with all her foibles and human failings, and I love the relationship between Sam and Daniel, and I'm quite fond of the way Sam and Teal'c interact, too. So by all means, you're entitled to your opinions - but most of the regular commenters here are definitely Sam fans. Myself included. :)

[tejas.livejournal.com]

I *want* to be a Sam fan, but when I stand back and take a good long look at what the writers did to her and try to see all of her as a piece, the result isn't pretty. There *are* Carter moments I *live* for (the best line in Space Race: "Well, what's a girl to do?" hehehehehe :-) and I think AT did a fantastic job with what she was given, but the writers failed her badly.

And you're right, that scene in the Shroud had me cheering. That was the Jack and Sam I loved. Working together, sharing a friendship but always professional.